IIASA collaborates with the University of Koblenz-Landau on introducing systems thinking into university education

The University of Koblenz-Landau is a key German center for teacher training and research in the field of education. It has launched an International Initiative on Systems Thinking, which includes separate courses and an entire innovative master’s program, organized according to a systems approach and entitled “Global Challenges and Human Responses.”

To promote this collaboration, IIASA researchers Ulf Dieckmann, Director of the Evolution and Ecology (EEP) Program, Elena Rovenskaya, Director of the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program, Leena Ilmola, Senior Research Scholar in the ASA Program, and Gerid Hager, Research Scholar in the Ecosystem Services and Management (ESM) Program are participating in the Second International Expert Meeting taking place in Landau on June 11-12, 2018. This meeting brings together a group of experts from education, research, and policy to discuss how best to include systems thinking in education. Also taking part in the meeting are Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who is a member of IIASA’s Science Advisory Committee, and Martin Lees, Rector Emeritus, University for Peace of the United Nations, who is an International Adviser to the University of Koblenz-Landau and at the same time serves as the Chairman of the OECD-IIASA Task Force on Systems Thinking, Anticipation, and Resilience.

After more than 40 years of research on systems analysis and an almost equal number of years implementing the very successful Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), IIASA is ready to offer its knowledge and experience on methods and practices of systems analysis to universities that would like to introduce systems thinking into their training activities.

Ulf Dieckmann, Director of the Evolution and Ecology (EEP) Program, IIASA, and May-Britt Kallenrode, President of the University of Koblenz-Landau, with the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions

IIASA and University of Koblenz-Landau researchers with the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions